Collection
Series
Publication
New York : St. Martin's Press, 1996.
Description
As the leading churchmen and women gather at the Synod of Whitby in 664AD to debate the rival merits of the Celtic and Roman Churches, tempers begin to fray. Conspirators plot an assassination, while mysterious, violent death stalks the shadowy cloisters of the Abbey of St Hilda.
Language
User reviews
LibraryThing member PuddinTame
I thought that this would be a fascinating look at the Celtic Christian church. Tremayne explains something about Irish culture in the introduction, which was quite interesting. Unfortunately, it seemed like he repeated his thoughts on every third page. Further, the two investigators (in the
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beginning at least) spent their time in pointless bickering, in lieu of a plot. I gave up not very far into the investigation. Show Less
LibraryThing member Joycepa
First in the Sister Fidelma series, set in 7th century Ireland and environs.
As has been typical of the Christian Church practically from its beginnings, the differences between sects of the young religion were bitter and especially after Constantine made the Christian church the official religion
Violence appears early, when Sister Fidelma and her companions, on the way to the synod, come across a hanged monk of their belief system who was executed by the local chief for his Celtic Church membership. Later, as the synod is about to open, the Abbess Etain, a friend of Fidelma’s and Abbess of her monastery at Kildare, is brutally murdered. Because suspicions rise immediately on both sides, both Sister Fidelma, a young woman who has already made a reputation as an advocate in the Irish courts, and Brother Eadulf, a Saxon who is a follower of Rome, are charged by the king to determine the murderer.
This series is touted as either a successor to or companion of Ellis Peters’ Brother Caedfel series. In my opinion, Tremayne’s writing is not the equal of Peters’. The plotting is good, the writing works but is stiff, stilted. It’s too bad, because the conflict between the fledgling Christian sects is an interesting one, and in that regard, Tremayne does a good job of presenting just exactly what the fight was about.
Another problem I had with the book is the overabundance of Celtic and Saxon names in the beginning. There is a principal character list at the front of the book (as well as a good map of Ireland and the one-day Great Britain), but Tremayne really loads it on in the first chapter. While understandable from the plot point of view, it is too bad he couldn’t have come up with another way to introduce names that, to anyone except a Saxon specialist, because they were confusing. If someone like me, who is fanatical about absorbing such information when presented, gives up and just moves on, then you know there’s a problem. In the end, it was just as well to move on. I think that whole first section could have been written better.
There is an excellent forward which explains the Irish system of rule and laws, which is a must read for the book itself.
This is the first book in the series and I am hesitant to pass judgment too quickly on the series as a whole. Hopefully later installments will improve, because the premise on which the stories are based is excellent.
As has been typical of the Christian Church practically from its beginnings, the differences between sects of the young religion were bitter and especially after Constantine made the Christian church the official religion
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of his empire, often were disputed by violence. It is no different in 664 C.E.; at stake, naturally, is power as well as belief. The northern part of what we now know as England was evangelized by the Celtic Church, while the southern chiefdoms and kingdoms were converted to the Roman liturgy and authority. Sister Fidelma is attending an important synod in northern England—simply Northumbria at that time, since England was not yet unified—between the two factions. Violence appears early, when Sister Fidelma and her companions, on the way to the synod, come across a hanged monk of their belief system who was executed by the local chief for his Celtic Church membership. Later, as the synod is about to open, the Abbess Etain, a friend of Fidelma’s and Abbess of her monastery at Kildare, is brutally murdered. Because suspicions rise immediately on both sides, both Sister Fidelma, a young woman who has already made a reputation as an advocate in the Irish courts, and Brother Eadulf, a Saxon who is a follower of Rome, are charged by the king to determine the murderer.
This series is touted as either a successor to or companion of Ellis Peters’ Brother Caedfel series. In my opinion, Tremayne’s writing is not the equal of Peters’. The plotting is good, the writing works but is stiff, stilted. It’s too bad, because the conflict between the fledgling Christian sects is an interesting one, and in that regard, Tremayne does a good job of presenting just exactly what the fight was about.
Another problem I had with the book is the overabundance of Celtic and Saxon names in the beginning. There is a principal character list at the front of the book (as well as a good map of Ireland and the one-day Great Britain), but Tremayne really loads it on in the first chapter. While understandable from the plot point of view, it is too bad he couldn’t have come up with another way to introduce names that, to anyone except a Saxon specialist, because they were confusing. If someone like me, who is fanatical about absorbing such information when presented, gives up and just moves on, then you know there’s a problem. In the end, it was just as well to move on. I think that whole first section could have been written better.
There is an excellent forward which explains the Irish system of rule and laws, which is a must read for the book itself.
This is the first book in the series and I am hesitant to pass judgment too quickly on the series as a whole. Hopefully later installments will improve, because the premise on which the stories are based is excellent.
Show Less
LibraryThing member belgrade18
I am surprised- I expected to like this book more (though I gave it four stars): I love historical mystery novels and read them frequently. This is the first in a series of over 20 mysteries featuring Sister Fidelma, a 7th-century Irish nun. While many of the historical characters and events match
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up- including a solar eclipse that struck in the middle of the Synod of Whitby and the death of the attending Archbishop of Canterbury Deusdedit- I did not like Sister Fidelma very much. I think she has a serious case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder as she sneers, cuts off, or ignores many of the people around her in the belief that only she knows the truth. True, Hercule Poirot was a narcissist as well, but he had a lot more charm and wit, and some compassion. I'm hoping that Sister Fidelma tones down her ego a bit in the later novels of this series, though I'm not rushing out to get the next one, I'll admit. Show Less
LibraryThing member ADallasCat
A slow book with simplistic dialogue and less than compelling characters. The story begins with a group of religious going to a holy debate then on the day of the debate a murder happens. Its a good plotline and idea, but I found it hard to read the dialogue between the characters and the
I was able to finish 8 chapters (of 20) before I shook my head and bought a different book.
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descriptions without slightly rolling my eyes. I was able to finish 8 chapters (of 20) before I shook my head and bought a different book.
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LibraryThing member mana_tominaga
Historical mudrer mystery. Excellent details into the period.
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
Sister Fidelma will always be Sister "Fleidermaus" to me. A good deal too genteel for me. The fact of the history are good, but the book feels very revisionist. "Credo" is more catholic and harder edged.
LibraryThing member jamespurcell
Good introduction into a very good series. Names are difficult to manage but add authenticity. The lead Columban scholar, an Abbess, is murdered at the beginning of a conference to decide Columbans or Roman as the appropriate religious doctrine to follow in Nothumbria, Sister Fidelma is there as an
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observer. She is partnered with a Saxon monk and requested to solve the crime. Sister uses logic and ocassional inbsight from her new colleague to follow scant clues to a successful conclusion Show Less
LibraryThing member nx74defiant
This deals with a time in Ireland I'm not real familiar with. It was interesting to read about the events and issues.
Fidelma was a bit arragont and very sure she knew best.
Fidelma was a bit arragont and very sure she knew best.
LibraryThing member SeriousGrace
To set the stage for Absolution by Murder: Sister Fidelma mysteries are set during the medieval mid-seventh century. At this time in history there is the well-known debate between the Celtic Christian and Roman churches in the Northumbria region. Its king stages a debate to determine the supreme
Readers will get a lesson in the differences between blessings at the Trinity versus Columban church. Picture the sign of the cross: is it Celtic with the first, third and fifth fingers raised? Or is it Roman with only the thumb, fist and second fingers? The hand gestures are different yet both are valid forms of worship.
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authority and religious doctrine. The heroine of the series, Sister Fidelma, is an advocate of the ancient law courts of Ireland. But, when the Abbess of the Columban order is murdered Fidelma takes it upon herself to solve the mystery of who killed her friend. Readers will get a lesson in the differences between blessings at the Trinity versus Columban church. Picture the sign of the cross: is it Celtic with the first, third and fifth fingers raised? Or is it Roman with only the thumb, fist and second fingers? The hand gestures are different yet both are valid forms of worship.
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LibraryThing member MaelBrigde
(There is a BUT in the second paragraph.) An enjoyable novel, the first in the Sister Fidelma series. The setting of the Synod of Whitby and its theological (and political) tensions are of interest to me, although the abbess Hilda is thinly drawn and dull, as a character. But Fidelma and her Seaxun
Fidelma is a religious sister in 7th century Ireland, a member of the order of Saint Brigit of Kildare, which is what attracted me to the series. (Brigit herself doesn’t come up at all in the book.) There is a prologue, “Sister Fidelma’s World,” that concerns me. It gives a distorted impression of medieval Irish society, particularly as regards women. Given that the book is thirty years old, and the scholarship in the area has advanced greatly since then, this is forgiveable, but it is very unfortunate. This series continues to be read, and, if the original prologue remains, continues to reinforce a too sunny view of a time where, in fact, women were very much *not* the equals of men, despite there being ways in which they were less badly off than those on the continent. It was not, as Tremayne/Beresford Ellis says in the prologue, “an almost feminist paradise.” Nor were all people freely accorded medical care, as is suggested in the novel. He is referring to the Brehon Laws there, but whether they were actually enforced is questionable, and that they applied to the lower classes is unlikely. Ireland was a brutal land in the middle ages, which sounds practically utopian at times, here.
It is true that Ellis knows a lot about ancient Ireland and church history, and that makes the book so much richer. But do not take every point he makes as writ. Check his facts, and proceed with caution. It is entertainment, not scholarship.
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colleague cum friend, Eadulf, are far better drawn, and the mystery does carry the reader along. It is not deep reading, and is not fabulously written, but it is well written and a good distraction; a good read and a promising start to the series. I will read on. HOWEVER...Fidelma is a religious sister in 7th century Ireland, a member of the order of Saint Brigit of Kildare, which is what attracted me to the series. (Brigit herself doesn’t come up at all in the book.) There is a prologue, “Sister Fidelma’s World,” that concerns me. It gives a distorted impression of medieval Irish society, particularly as regards women. Given that the book is thirty years old, and the scholarship in the area has advanced greatly since then, this is forgiveable, but it is very unfortunate. This series continues to be read, and, if the original prologue remains, continues to reinforce a too sunny view of a time where, in fact, women were very much *not* the equals of men, despite there being ways in which they were less badly off than those on the continent. It was not, as Tremayne/Beresford Ellis says in the prologue, “an almost feminist paradise.” Nor were all people freely accorded medical care, as is suggested in the novel. He is referring to the Brehon Laws there, but whether they were actually enforced is questionable, and that they applied to the lower classes is unlikely. Ireland was a brutal land in the middle ages, which sounds practically utopian at times, here.
It is true that Ellis knows a lot about ancient Ireland and church history, and that makes the book so much richer. But do not take every point he makes as writ. Check his facts, and proceed with caution. It is entertainment, not scholarship.
Show Less